That is certainly the reason he was downvoted. Is there really any reason to discuss downvoting? The fact that his wife might not want him to take such drastic steps is actually a good thing. My wife is my dream killer which is a good thing. Dreams are fantasies. You should be willing to 'go for it', but you should have someone there to keep you in reality. Just because his wife might not see things from his perspective does not mean she is wrong. Instead of seeing it in such a negative light, it should instead encourage him to find more information to persuade her. She, after all, is more like the customer than he will ever be, and the customer is the target for your business venture. If you can convince her of the project, that is probably a useful project. I am sure she would not mind a small cut in hours to work on a side business. Even going from 40 hours to 35 hours per week at such a job would be a big change. That extra 5 hours per week could result in him eagerly awaiting to come home to continue working on his projects. He is not asking for permission to be lazy, and his wife would not be asking for him to suffer. Instead, she would be the voice of reason to prevent him from slipping into fantasies. She might say no at first but agree to a large cut of hours (40 to 20 perhaps) if he saves six months of income. That would give him something towards which he can work. He can bargain this way until they reach a concensus. The reason he wants fewer hours at work is to spend more time with his family not to leave his family. Even something as small as "I am going to stay up 2 hours later than usual each night to work on my projects and work for 8 hours on Saturday on it." can be the beginning of a new business. That would equate to 18 hours per week of working on the side project, and when you can show something for the time spent, she will probably be more accepting. If she is initially accepting of everything you say, it does not mean she does not love him, and it does not mean she is a cruel woman. It simply means that she wants what is best for the family, and she can be the rational one that keeps him grounded. He can continue to dream, but he needs a solution for filtering his ideas, and she can be perfect for that.
It sounds as if you know his wife? It might be as you say, or maybe they are just completely different people. They probably have lived together for many, many years now. What if they just make each other unhappy?
Granted the formulation "leave immediately" was probably too harsh. I would think it is worth trying to talk about things. But one can't assume that staying together is always the best solution.
There seems to be somewhat of a misunderstanding. I didn't say leave her because she might not want you to do the things you want to do. I said talk to her or leave her!
My opinion is that if he ponders such important matters and feels unable to talk about it with his spouse then it's not a relationship worth having. I would go so far as to say it would be unfair _not_ to quit a relationship if I felt unable to talk about things like this.
I stand by that in all its harshness.
However, it may be a mistake to talk about these things in a do this, do that kind of style. I know I'm not very diplomatic but I think he's smart enough to parse it and maybe dismiss it, and if I'm voted down so be it.
Well my parents are divorced. I don't agree it is to the best of the kids to stay together no matter what. If the parents are unhappy, they suffer too.
Call everyone in your address book and ask them to have a cup of coffee with you. Tell them you're ripe for a change and see what comes out of it.
Get a job in Singapore and see whether any startup ideas/opportunities result from it.